Day 1 - Conway to Knoxville, TN

Road trips always take me back to my childhood.  Our family took yearly treks (usually in our 80s Ford conversion van) during the summer all over the country.  Looking back, that's truly one of the best gifts my parents ever gave me as I still remember and treasure our journeys.  I was thrilled when the Hansen family agreed to let me help plan and be on a summer road trip in 2017!

Today was Day 1 and it started quite early as we rolled out of Conway at 7:15 am.  Interstate 40 between Little Rock and Memphis is fairly non-descript except for the large amount of semi trucks that haul goods to and fro daily.  We arrived in Memphis by about 9:30 and soon saw the Pyramid off to our left and downtown to the right.  Seeing the Mud Island Amphitheater always reminds me of our family trip to Disney World in 1985.  We stopped in a Memphis and the Pointer Sisters happened to be performing at Mud Island that night.   Mom and Dad bought tickets for the four of us and I got to experience my first true concert!

 

After a brief Starbucks stop near Bartlett, we set our sights on Nashville which welcomed our arrival for lunch.  Caroline found a Honeybaked Ham Store that also served meals and it hit the spot.  Our next stop was Nashville's Parthenon in Centennial Park.  This full-sized replica of the original Parthenon in Athens was built in 1897 for Tennessee's Centennial Exposition.  The building wasn't meant to last much longer than the Exposition, but Nashville decided to keep it and renovate the exterior with concrete in the 1920s.  By 1931, the interior was completed and replicas of the Elgin Marbles (see my blog entries from the British Museum) were installed.  In 1982, Alan LeQuire was commissioned to recreate the statue of Athena Parthenos; she was unveiled in 1990.  And in 2002,
she was guilded in gold leaf to represent how he original statue looked in Ancient Greece.  I really enjoyed this stop.  The park was beautiful and the building itself was just a cool thing to find in the middle of town.  After our self-guided tour, we loaded up the car for the final leg of our trek today.

Traffic in Nashville is nothing, if not challenging.  After poking our way out of town, we then ran into a rainstorm that essentially moved along with us for 2 hours.  Lots and lots of rain, so much so that talking in the car was useless as you couldn't hear anyone.  As we entered the Knoxville area, it finally let up a bit.  The evening plans called for Jason and Franklin to go to the Tennessee Smokies ballgame.  The Smokies are the AA Cubs farm team, so of course, excitement was high.  As the boys did that, Caroline, the girls, and I found dinner at The Diner down in Sevierville.  The Diner is similar to Arkansas' Purple Cow, but it felt more local and was in a building that resembled a shiny silver diner of old.  After a great meal, we drove back up to Kodak (where our hotel and the stadium was) to pick up the fellas.  The hotel beds were calling our name and we all turned in.  Tomorrow, we hit the Smoky Mountains!

Day 14 - London

We bid a fond farewell to our Phoebe (our Audi Q3) this morning after adding dirt to her paint job and logging 1,476 miles in 12 days. She was a great car and the GPS was a life saver! I'll miss driving on the left, but I'll admit the right side of the road is calling my name.

After taking the courtesy shuttle from Hertz to Heathrow, we jumped on the train into London, and then a taxi to the British Museum. Having limited time, we hit the highlights. We still moved through Ancient Babylon, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Celtic Britain, and had lunch, plus shopping. The British Museum truly is amazing. The items in their collections are simply amazing and it boggles my mind to realize that I can stare at Cleopatra's sarcophagus, an original sculpture of Roman Emperor Hadrian, Nordic chessmen, and items from a Babylonian ziggurat all under one roof. I could honestly spend a week in this museum and still probably not see everything.

We also wanted to see the Tower of London so we bought tickets for the hop on/hop off tour bus, thinking we could see some of the sights along the way. Traffic this afternoon was horrible so we were stuck on the bus quite a while. We did see sights (Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's, the West End) and did arrive at the Tower about an hour before they closed. The ticket agent snootily said that it takes three hours to visit the Tower; I assured her I could do it an hour. She continued to discourage me even though I was waving pounds at her. And as promised, we saw everything we wanted to within one hour...ha! And yes, Donna, the Crown Jewels were still very well protected and I was unable to grab one for you.

We decided to do something different for dinner tonight so we walked by and under the Tower Bridge heading for a Spanish Tapas restaurant. Along the way, we stumbled upon Her Majesty's royal barge! The restaurant was the perfect way to wrap up our journey as each thing we ordered was out of this world! A walk around the block, a taxi to Paddington Station, a train to Slough, another train to Windsor, and a taxi to our B&B brought our evening fun to an end. We leave London about 11:00 am tomorrow and land on US soil about 1:00 pm Central time. This journey has been amazing and I'm so grateful to have done it, but home is calling and I must return!

All my bags are packed; I'm ready to go! Thanks for taking this journey with me virtually!

 

Day 13 - Canterbury, Dover, and Dinner

A quick start out of the B&B this morning put us at Canterbury about 11:00 am. I was very excited to have the chance to visit this cathedral. It's the seat for the Archbishop of Canterbury who is essentially the CEO of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion worldwide, of which the US Episcopal church is a part. In more simple terms, this is the mother ship for Episcopalians...ha! This is also the site where Archibishop Thomas Beckett was murdered within the cathedral by knights following orders from Henry II who famously asked who among him would get rid of Beckett.

We arrived in time to participate in a midday Holy Communion which was downstairs is the quiet crypt chapel. It was essentially lit only by light coming in from the short windows at ground level and there were only about 10 of us there. A pretty spiritual event really. We then began our walking tour and were able to see the spot where Beckett was martyred, the chapter house, the chapel where Beckett's remains are interred, the steps that millions of pilgrims have trod over the years, and some pretty impressive stained glass.

We ate another tea room lunch and then headed to the White Cliffs of Dover. It was raining upon our arrival, but my radar app showed the shower would move shortly, so we waited it out. After about 5 minutes, we trekked out and the light was very good for capturing photos of the cliffs AND the cliffs across the English Channel in France! What a busy port as well!

We were honored to have been invited to dine with Dr. Eric Binnie's sister and her family for dinner. On our way, we had an amazing double rainbow appear. We arrived at their home on the south side of London about 6:30 and had an absolutely wonderful evening of laughs, friendship, amazing food, and fellowship. I love having personal time like this whilst traveling; it really adds to the experience. Again, a big thank you to Agnes, Russell, Allison, and Gareth!

We are turning in at our lodging in Windsor. We return Phoebe to Hertz tomorrow and then head into London for the day. Can't believe it's our last day of touring...it's gone by very quickly.